Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Wendell Berry

Quote by Wendell Berry

“The religion and the environmentalism of the highly industrialized countries are at bottom a sham, because they make it their business to fight against something that they do not really wish to destroy. We all live by robbing nature, but our standard of living demands that the robbery shall continue. We must achieve the character and acquire the skills to live much poorer than we do.”

Quote by Wendell Berry

Book:What Are People For?: Essays
Create image

Work

What Are People For?: Essays

This book is a compilation of thought-provoking essays that delve into the fundamental questions of human life and the meaning of existence. more

Author

Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry, an American novelist born on August 5, 1934, is renowned for his profound descriptions of rural life and his critical views on modern industrial civilization. more

You May Also Like

“We must waste less. We must do more for ourselves and for each other. It is either that or continue merely to think and talk about changes that we are inviting catastrophe to make. The great obstacle is simply this: the conviction that we cannot change because we are dependant on what is wrong. But that is the addict's excuse, and we know that it will not do.”

ThinkingKnowsWasteConvictionExcuseObstaclesConsumerismCatastropheAddictInvitingOverconsumption
Book:What Are People For?: Essays
Create image

“By the same token, frozen dinners, a microwave oven, a dishwasher, and an illegal immigrant hired to clean the house and take one's cat to the vet would have seemed like the epitome of materialism in another time, but now provide the only means available for two-career couples to work hard enough at their jobs to earn the salaries they need to pay for those labor-saving amenities.”

NeedsMeanTwoHardEnoughJobsHousePayCareersHard WorkCoupleLaborCatCleanAvailableDinnerSavingImmigrantsMaterialismIllegalConsumerismFrozenSalaryOverconsumptionTokensOvensIllegal ImmigrantsAnother TimeEpitomeVetsMicrowavesDishwashersAmenities
Author:Robert Wuthnow
Create image

“The world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and self-destruction! For the world says: "You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiply your desires."”

WorldSelfDesirePowerfulRichRightsLateDestructionSlaverySatisfyingConsumerismReignSelf DestructionOverconsumption
Book:GREAT BOOKS OF THE WESTERN WORLD
Create image

“Their property held them in chains...chains which shackled their courage and choked their faith and hampered their judgment and throttled their soul...If they stored up their treasure in heaven, they would not now have an enemy and a thief within their own household...They think of themselves as owners, whereas it is they rather who are owned: enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but its slaves.”

IfsThinkingSoulHeavenEnemyMastersJudgmentPropertySlaveTreasureChainsOwnersThievesHouseholdConsumerismOverconsumptionTreasures In Heaven
Author:Cyprian
Create image

“That is very fine; but it is impossible to make the men perfect; the men will always remain the same as they are now; and no legislation will make a man have more presence of mind, or, I believe, make him more cautious; and besides that, the next time such an accident occurs, the circumstances will be so different, that the instructions given to the men, in consequence of the former accident, will not apply.”

MenMindBelieveDifferentNextGivenI BelievePerfectImpossibleHe ManFineCircumstancesConsequenceSafetyAccidentsFormerAviationInstructionNext TimeLegislationCautiousPresence Of Mind
Author:Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Create image

“Challenger was lost because NASA came to believe its own propaganda. The agency's deeply impacted cultural hubris had it that technology-engineering-would always triumph over random disaster if certain rules were followed. The engineers-turned-technocrats could not bring themselves to accept the psychology of machines with abandoning the core principle of their own faith: equations, geometry, and repetition-physical law, precision design, and testing-must defy chaos.”

IfsBelieveLawCertainLostAcceptingPrinciplesTechnologyPsychologyDesignMachinesSafetyChaosCoreDisasterTriumphPropagandaAgencyAviationEngineeringEngineersRepetitionTestingEquationsGeometryPrecisionNasaHubris
Book:This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age
Create image